MSE | Wednesday, 18 June 2008

Crimsonwing p.l.c. shares gain eight per cent in a week

GlobalCapital Financial
Management Ltd - Malta Stock
Exchange Review

Yesterday, while Garrison Chapel cheered as Crimsonwing p.l.c. advanced, market heavy weighted HSBC Bank Malta p.l.c. and International Hotel Investments p.l.c. moved to lower ground dragging the local index fractionally down by 0.42 per cent at 4129.02 points.
The shares of Crimsonwing p.l.c. acted as the sole leader on the upside, after benefiting from sufficient buying interest to push the share price up €2c0 (LM0.009) to the €0.54 (LM0.232) level across 7,000 shares. These shares were exchanged across two transactions. At market close, best demand stood at €0.53 (LM0.228) for 10,000 shares against best supply of 10,128 shares at €0.54 (LM0.232). Week on week Crimsonwing p.l.c. climbed 8 per cent from its closing price of €0.50 (LM0.215) on Tuesday 10 June. Following a company announcement issued by Crimsonwing p.l.c. on Wednesday 11 June, the Company announced that it has entered into a Share Purchase Agreement for the acquisition of the total issued share capital of VDA Informatiebeheersing BV, a company based in Hilversum, The Netherlands, for a total consideration of €1.9 million. The transaction is expected to close on or around the first week of July. As documented in the Use of Proceeds statement in the Crimsonwing p.l.c. Prospectus, dated 30 November 2007, this acquisition is in line with Crimsonwing’s specifically stated strategy to bring additional and larger companies into the Crimsonwing Group. VDA fits Crimsonwing’s target profile perfectly as profiled in the Crimsonwing Prospectus. Additionally, and as stated in the Prospectus, Crimsonwing has deemed it beneficial to the company to fund this acquisition through a combination of cash and debt financing of €1.5 million. This allows Crimsonwing the capacity to continue to pursue its strategy with further future acquisitions.
VDA represents a strategic acquisition for Crimsonwing p.l.c.:
• Operating for the last 16 years, VDA is a well established IT professional services business specialising in the Broadcasting (Radio/TV), Media Agencies, Publishing and Cable/ISP sectors.
• VDA is a Microsoft Dynamics partner, a key solution offered by Crimsonwing plc.
• In the Netherlands, Crimsonwing now operates three businesses – Crimsonwing BV, Crimsonwing Promentum BV and VDA BV.
• Crimsonwing in the Netherlands will now have a greater presence in the market and with a larger number of Dutch speaking business and technical consultants.
• This acquisition will lift Crimsonwing plc’s Euro based sales from 25 per cent to 45 per cent of overall group revenues and thus significantly reduce any impact of exchange rate fluctuations between UK Sterling and the Euro.
On the loser’s front, the shares of HSBC Bank Malta p.l.c. were under pressure. The share price slipped €2c0 (LM0.009) to close at €3.58 (LM1.537). HSBC Bank Malta p.l.c. was the most liquid stock of the day as 11,440 shares were swapped in eight deals. Furthermore, the lowest traded price during the session was €3.58 (LM1.537), whereas the highest traded price of the day was €3.60 (LM1.545). The total turnover of the week amounted to 52,425 shares and swapped across fifty-four trades.
Remaining on large-caps, International Hotel Investments p.l.c. had a relatively quite day. A total of 1,500 shares forced the price to trade lower by €1c5 (LM0.006) to finish the second session of the week at €1.045 (LM0.449).
Meanwhile, the shares of Bank of Valletta p.l.c., Malta International Airport p.l.c. and MaltaPost p.l.c. closed unchanged from their previous session close at €4.85 (LM2.082), €3.12 (LM1.339) and €0.80 (LM0.343) respectively.
On Wednesday 11 June, Malta International Airport p.l.c. announced that it has restructured its Departments to cater for the expansion of its core business and daily operations, in view of developments taking place directed to enhance the Company’s services. The related restructuring exercise is called for in order to meet the exigencies that will come about with expected growth. Works are already underway to modify the retail areas in order to further increase business activity in the non-aviation sector. Mario Psaila-Savona has been appointed Head of this department with the responsibility to oversee and develop all business activity in this field. Moreover in order to ensure the projected growth in passenger and airline activity, Alan Borg has been appointed Head of Airline Marketing with the additional responsibility of further developing the VIP services at MIA. Furthermore the Board of Directors has renewed the contract of service of Austin Calleja, as Chief Finance Officer and Executive Director, who will now have the added responsibility for the Meteorological Services Department, the Networks Department, Purchasing and Sky Parks Ltd, the newly established 100 per cent subsidiary company of MIA which has taken over the operations of the car parks at the air terminal.
Grand Harbour Marina p.l.c. announced that at the Annual General Meeting of the Company held on Friday 13 June, the shareholders considered and approved:
• that the Profit and Loss Account and Balance Sheet of Grand Harbour Marina p.l.c. for the financial year ended 31 December 2007 and the Directors’ and Auditors’ report thereon be hereby received and approved;
• that the appointment of KPMG – Malta as auditors of the Company be hereby approved and that the Board of Directors be hereby authorised to fix their remuneration; and
• that a final net dividend of €0.20 (Lm0.08) per share equivalent to the sum of €2,000,000 (LM858,600) as recommended by the directors be and is hereby approved for payment to all shareholders on the register of members as at the close of trading on the 7 May 2008.
Furthermore, the ongoing Board of Directors was reappointed in full.
On Friday 13 June, GO p.l.c. announced that Forgendo Limited, the joint venture company between GO p.l.c. and Emirates International Telecommunications (Malta) Limited has acquired a further 353,958 shares in Forthnet S.A. issued share capital, for a total consideration of €1,875,977.40.
On Monday 16 June, FIMBank p.l.c. announced that MENAFACTORS Limited, originally a joint venture between FIMBank p.l.c. and National Bank of Dubai, authorised and regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority to provide credit, arrange credit or deals in investments and advice on financial products or credit as well as forfeiting and factoring and operating from the Dubai International Financial Centre, has become with effect from 29 May 2008, a fully owned subsidiary of FIMFactors B.V., a fully owned subsidiary of FIMBank p.l.c., incorporated in the Netherlands. The consolidation first and the transfer of the entire shareholding of MENAFACTORS Limited to FIMFactors B.V., albeit of a temporary nature, marks the first step of a restructuring of the joint venture companies of the FIMBank Group. The Transfer has been authorised by the competent authorities in both Malta and Dubai.
In the fixed interest market, a total of €1,951,656 (LM837,845.92) (9 Deals) were transacted in Government Bonds, whereas a total of €21,076 (LM9,047.93) (4 Deals) were transacted in Corporate Bonds.
The turnover value in the Treasury Bill secondary market amounted to €9,668 (LM4,150.47).